i am tony robbins sitting if for piers morgan. tonight, billionaires row. we get three billionaires in this country. >> business is a sport, and i just always have got to be competing. i've got to always try to win. >> the king of vegas, steve wynn. >> the idea of building something that would make people go wow has struck me just about as the coolest thing in the world to do. >> and t. boone pickens who built his own oil company and did even better after he left it. three of america's biggest success stories on keeping america great. >> i would get out of the mideast is what i'd do. >> because what they say could help everyone. >> the most patrioticing thing you could do as an american is get filthy stinking rich and

then pay lots in taxes to we can do all these things we're talking about. >> this is "piers morgan tonight." i'm tony robbins in for piers morgan. tonight i'm going to be with three men that probably can come up with some real solutions to get america growing again. they've certainly done that in huge businesses. we begin with mark cuban, the billionaire owner of the dallas mavericks. he started off at age 10 selling garbage sacks because his father wouldn't buy him sneakers. he founded a company he sold to yahoo! for $5 billion. then he paid $285 million for the dallas mavericks and turned them into nba champs. not bad. hi, mark, nice to see you. >> good to see you. >> i see you noticed the ring. >> beautiful ring. >> coach carlisle gave me that because i worked with your team that year. >> i get chills seeing it. >> tell me something, you are

ziebed in a lot of different ways. i've wanted to meet you for a long time. passionate, outrageous, playful. you've taken business and built it into a sport, incredibly successful. i think hunger is the most important element. you seem to have this insatiable hunger. i'm passionate but i don't have $2 million fines from nba referees, right? tell me something, where does that passion come from in you? and tell me, if people don't think they have it, can they find it? how do you keep it? >> that's a great question. i don't know if i'm wired that way. i kind of feel like i am. but i'm just the most competitive guy you'll ever meet. to me, business is a sport and i've always got to be competing. i've got to always try to win. and i wasn't good enough at athletics but when i got into business i realized that i wasn't just competing against an opponent for 48 minutes in a game or 60 minutes, you're

competing against everybody who ever might compete. and that just keeps it going. >> against the withhold world. >> right. and there's always some 18-year-old kid wanting to come in and kick your butt. that keeps me young, motivated and hungry. because i never want to get kicked off the perch. >> do you agree that hunger is the most important element? >> you know, i think it's effort. if hunger creates effort, then yes, absolutely. it's about hunger. because i think so many people always talk about their dreams. i think the big est lie if all of business, if you will, or all of mentori is follow your dreams. because if you think about it, we all have dreams. i started off wanting to be a baseball player, i dreamed of this, dream of that. then you realize that where you should go is where your effort takes you. yeah, i practiced baseball and basketball and loved it. but then i found myself spending more time with business and learning about business or being involved in business. it was really my effort that

drove me. i always tell people, don't follow your dreams, follow your effort of. where are you hungry enough to put in the time? because that's where you'll get results. >> what about timing? so often in life you see really good people who fail, and i find it's not because they diplomat try or put forth theest. they did the right thing at the wrong question. >> no question. >> people buying a house for a hundred years right thing to do, right? 2007 not the right time. >> right. timing is relative to scale. so when i started my first business i had just gotten fired from a job and i didn't have a choice. i went the next seven years without a vacation, sold the company for $6 million. so i was 29 and i was retired. bought a lifetime pass on american airlines. i was great. >> did you just go party? >> like a madman. >> i can see you doing that, mark. that wouldn't be difficult.

>> not at all. it's in my nature. i went nuts. i wasn't in a position to buy a sports team, change the world, but i was comfortable. if i was willing to live like a stuld, i was set for life. then my next business came along and it happened to be we started the business of streaming. this is 1995, which is right when internet stock started going nuts. and there's no question that had my next business not happened when the whole internet bubble had come along, i wouldn't be worth billions of dollars. >> what were the revenues of your company when you sold it for 5.9 billion? >> we were doing about -- well, the last public quarter i think was 13 million, then 18 million, then i think our last after we sold was 25 million for the quarter. >> that's just revenue. >> right. it was 5.9 in cash. >> i want to get to that. people say, a guy like mark is so lucky. >> i am lucky. i'm the first to tell you that. >> but also you got out of that yahoo! stock before it went down, too. >> i was stupid. >> but i'm saying, can you make your own luck by putting yourself in the right position? a lot of people see themselves

as the season hits me rather than, let me see what season we're in and how do we taking advantage of winter? have you done that throughout your life? you were one of the first hd-net guys. >> i always try to change the game because there's just starting and rujing a business. then i sit there and say, look, i'm not the best programmer, not the most technical guy. but with salesability, businessability and technical ability, i can walk in and say, what can i do to change? whether wra creating first high definition network, hd-net in 2001, we have a company mag nola pictures a distribution company. this model isn't workinging, spending all this money to promote a movie and praying people show up is a bad model. i looked at the technology in tv, video convict demand in tv is going to xproed. let's put the movies on vod where people can make an impulse buy with their remote control and buy our movies first. then because we own landmark

theaters put them in a theater. we went from money that lost money or rarely lost and always made money as a company and now everybody is trying to copy us. that's what i try to look for. >> it's amazing. you'll always find that competitive edge. one of the competitive edge with the mavericks, you took the team who had been in one playoff in 20 years? >> yes. we were voted the worst professional franchise for the '90s before i bought them. >> you got them in the playoffs. >> yes. >> in 2011 you become champions. that kind of turnaround doesn't just happen. you brought in innovative leadership and brought leaders into the group. i think we agree leadership is the cutting edge. we are about to decide who our leader is going to be for the next four years. john wooden, he had different player and won 12 champions, in a row. how valuable is the leader? what is the most important qualities in a leader today? how do you know if they've got the right stuff and how do you

know if you let them go or stay with them? >> it's tough with coaches. they always tell you coaches are liared to be fired. with with rick carlisle, our mutual friend and coach, you not only have to no whae you're good at, you have to know what you're not good at. that is one of rick's incredible strengths. he doesn't try to sell you on what he's not. he says, here's what i'm great at, here's what i'm not. if you can provide me support for the not so good thingthings, i'll take advantage of that. that's my role, how to put everybody in a position to succeed so we can get a few more of these. >> how do you keep that hunger alive? guys like the bulls in the days of jordan, three-peating, how do they keep the edge? pave that's not hard. once you taste it, you have to go back for more. it's that great tasting champagne. or steak. no one ever just has one steak.

you always want more. >> tell me, you've been -- one of the reasons i want you on the show because we have people who are more republican oriented. i've heard you rip both sides. are we better off than four years ago? >> individually it depends on your personal circumstances. you may or may not be. as a country, if you go back four years ago, here we are in september. september 2008 we had four or five of the biggest one-day drops in the dow. when you watch the market go up and down, trillions of dollars, people have no certainty. at the same time we were talking about being in the throes of the great session. not only were we in a great recession, we didn't know if we were leaning toward recession. we didn't know about banking, housing.

complete uncertainty. today we're worried about the fiscal cliff. back then we had no certainty on our whole financial system. the fact we got through that uncertainty speaks volumes that we're far better off today than we were back then. >> when we come back, i'd like to ask you about president obama and i'd like to ask you about mitt romney and get a clear idea of where you think this country needs to go. @p@p)

and the celebration will begin. the dallas mavericks are nba champions, the first title in franchise history. >> come here. come here. come here. >> tell me something, i can see the look in your eyes. >> you can't help but get emotional. >> you were telling me during the break. what did you say about the ring? >> i can't have it out when i see it because i get so fired up and so crazy, like let's go and i have to go -- no, i've got to go play with my kids and i've got to chill. i have to keep it where i can't see it. >> what did it mean to you to create that after a little less than ten years? >> hard to describe, happy for dirk, our players, our fans and almost more of a relief than anything else. you saw on the video that you just see me screaming, that was 67 days, the whole playoffs,

don't even think about it don't jinx this, don't jinx this. you see it here, screaming and letting it all out. . >> you have a hard time expressing your true emotions, don't you? >> yeah. take after my dad. >> kids take friends to move the the movies and say, watch my dad watch the movie. that's why i wanted to meet you. talk about leadership once again. talk about the president and mitt romney. tell me, first of all, rather than the people what are the qualities we need in a leader today dealing with the level of volatility in market, today, challenges in europe, asia, potentially china slowing down what do we need in a great leader? and give me your report card for president obama, i know you are a big supporter of his what would your report be for what you think mitt romney could do? >> i'm not a big supporter for everybody, i try to be objective and make a common sense decision based on the information in front of me. but in terms of leadership, first, i don't think the president has as much influence particularly on the economy. global affairs, absolutely right but on the economy -- >> i agree with you. >> nearly as much as people seem to think. to say whether it was president

bush before him or president obama now, only to do a, b or c -- >> even president clinton, a dear friend. a lot of it is outside. >> the internet hadn't happened for president clinton, he doesn't have a surplus. i don't think you can put as much credit or blame or any presidential candidate. so that's part of it. the thing that changed, concerned on both side, leadership has become in terms of managing your party, you're not voting for an individual anymore, not even voting for a ticket, you are voting for a whole party. you look at the tea party and their influence, it's the same on both sides. so much money involved right now that you can't just say, okay, president obama, this is what i like or don't like, governor romney, what i like or don't like. >> how would you rate the parties? >> they both scare the hell out of me. they really, really do. i think a lot of it comes down to the devil i know is better than the devil i don't know. when you look and try to go through the decision process and

i will leave it wide open until the debate, right, i will have an open mind until we go through the debates, both in business scenarios someone comes in and looking to hire them okay what are you going to do to increase profits of this country? i'm going to increase sales. not enough detail, i'm going to cut costs, that is not enough detail. that is not what we're -- that's what we're hearing from the republicans and governor romney. you got to the give me detail. talked about being a business person. would not hire anybody came in auditioning for a job the way he is auditioning for a job. the other hand, you look at obama and you say, well what have you done, are you better off? voting as individuals that is important. at the same time, i don't know he could have done a whole lot any different or republicans would have done it different. now if we go forward, again, i know obama, have him in a sense talks, a voter, i have a sense what he is going to do any ongoing business, not going to make somebody i don't really know who is not really being forthcoming not giving me details, not going to hire him as a ceo of one of my companies. okay, business isn't perfect,

right? but i'm not willing to take a chance on somebody new. >> you want the certainty. so you can run your business and run your life. >> there's more -- if governor romney and comes in and just cuts taxes, that's not good, right? >> right. you talked about that. you're more than happy to pay more taxes. >> yes. >> i am, too. i saw the president myself, spent a half hour with him three or four weeks ago. i asked, how will things be different four years from now, such demonization on both sides, i'm curious as a businessman, both sides so locked up, they can't pass anything, not willing to pass anything, what will change? on do you like that? >> there's something to be said for that, right? i would like to see the deficit reduced, all the things people are talking about. what it comes down to is individual responsibility for people in the business community. republicans like to talk about taking the government out.

i would love to take the government out. >> just not realistic. >> we're in a situation third and 50 to go i don't care if you are a running team, you have to pass the ball. where we are right now, i want to know what's going to happen from the republicans before i would consider. yet with what obama has doing i have enough certainty i feel comfortable what is going on. i can run my business. >> what you're saying is ceos and those successful have to take responsibility of coming up with a plan. you can't just cut taxes without knowing the consequences. >> you can't just take the government out and push it off. now what? people have to say, i'm a citizen, too. my shareholders are citizens of this country. i need to step up and hire people and do things for this country. otherwise, i can't ask the government to do less. i'm not taking any of the responsibility away from them. >> you are willing to do that. >> i do that. i'm investing in companies every day. >> why don't you run? you have done every damn thing else. >> that is the problem.

>> stick around. i want you to join our dream team together at the end here. if i was going to economic war, i would want these three men to be my come padres to make it happen. coming up, the king of las vegas, steve wynn, the man who started with literally less than nothing, 300,000 of his father's debts, and took las vegas and reshaped it into the entertainment capital of the world. how did he do it? how do you turn dreams into reality? steve wynn is next. >> announcer: meet tom, a proud dad whose online friends all "like" the photos he's posting. oscar likes tom's photos, but he loves the access to tom's personal information. oscar's an identity thief who used tom's personal info to buy new teeth and a new car, and stuck tom with the $57,000 bill. [tires squeal] now meet carl who works from the coffee shop and uses the free wi-fi. marie works from there too. she's an identity thief who used

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we're back and here with a legend. steve wynn created a $12 billion building boom in vegas and reshaped it completely with the level of creativity and intensity and beauty people wouldn't think about. >> i love the overstatement there. what's a kid supposed to do between mark cuban and t. boone pickens? >> people know your story.

some people don't know this, you were an english major, studied comparative religion. going to be a lawyer. how do you go from that to running a bingo parlor, $300,000 in debts and turning around an entire city. you took your vision and you made it real. >> you mentioned i was going to be a lawyer. at the last minute, i turned away from a life of crime. >> that's appropriate after what happened with you today. but tell me. >> how did i get from there to here? my dad taught me you want to stick to simple ideas. i don't know, tony, where or when, but ever since i was a kid, the idea of building something that would make people

go wow struck me as just about the coolest thing in the world to do. now, it's not saving lives in the real sense or doing something noteworthy, but it's kept me a happy, happy person. >> a lot of other people, too. >> i have to build another hotel, next time i could get it right. along the way, created 150,000, 250,000 jobs. the most satisfaction i have gotten, family, staffs of the hotels here and abroad and their family have all sort of merged into one. this familial organization. i live in the hotel. it is a great life. >> i talk to them and go to your hotels. listen to what they say outside. i know you start every meeting

with your company with how people have been touched. would you share an example of that? >> the notion that a single person acting alone without anybody watching can change the course of an enterprise is probably as true for a company as it is for a country. we believe that and we have storytelling. anybody have a story about yesterday and anything good that happens? if it's great we post it on the in-house internet and make signs at a print shop downstairs and put up big posters on the wall with a story and picture of the kid who did it and they become famous, that is to say something that they did increases their self-esteem. anything that increases somebody's self-esteem is so much more important than money. if it happens in conjunction with the workplace, it is terrific all the way around. a kid once, a couple from california upstairs their room

to check in, older couple, up to the room, do you have your baggage, did you check your baggage, the lady let out a screech, oh, says her husband, i left our case with our prescriptions at the insulin at the house, 4:00, what do we ? the bellman said where do you live? he said, pacific palisades. he said, well, i have a brother in encino. dow have someone at your house? we have a housekeeper. call the housekeeper and tell them my brother is coming over she called the housekeeper, i may be torquing the story, i hope i'm remembering correctly, in effect said someone is going to pick up the medicine. he says, i promise you when you wake up tomorrow morning it will be here. kid went downstairs, got in his car, drove from las vegas to california to his brother's house, picked up the case with

the medication, got back at 4:00 in the morning, had it delivered to the room. now, at that point, these people will never stop talking about that human intervention by one of our employees. that happens a thousand times a month. >> and in an economy like this, that kind of raving fan client, they come back again and again. tell me something there, lot of people -- there's a lot in politics today about success and wealth and almost a negative association, often people that have built things and not always. there's a mixture. you studied comparative religion. i know you donate 120% of your salary, plus your bonuses, i'm well aware each year. it's healthy numbers. you've always been a giver. is there a conflict between spirituality and economic success? >> i remember -- i think the answer to that is no. i remember studying buddhism at the university of pennsylvania. that teaches you it's about somebody else. my success as ceo is my ability to make senior management people recognize their success is how well they motivate the staff.

the staff learn the only real success is defined by the extent to which they make guests have a wonderful experience in our buildings. that is to say it is always about someone else. >> yes. >> that kind of thing is consistent with the studies of things like buddhism or any other religion for that matter. we are very oriented toward individuals in my company. >> yes. >> and i think that's pretty much my approach to life. >> i know you disagree with things mark said about being better now than four years ago. >> i do. >> i want you to share your solutions for things like health care and i want to hear why you went from voting for president obama before to now voting for mitt romney or at least supporting mitt romney. so that's what we will do when we come back. by bright eyes

you're not just looking for a house. you're looking for a place for your life to happen.

i think the future of las vegas depends on the kind of political leadership that we get in our state and our country. after all, las vegas is great national crossroads, a great

international crossroads. to the extent that america is healthy and well led, then las vegas will be a great reflection of that prosperity. >> so i know you feel very differently about our economy. tell me, are we better off than four years ago? and if you obviously feel differently, why? what do we need to do to move america forward and start growing again? >> it was fun to meet mark cuban and be here with him, i was listening carefully when you were talking to him. unfortunately, i disagree with him rather starkly. four years ago, mark mentioned that we were in the throes of an earthquake. everything was shaking because there was a fault beneath us. the fault had to do with home lending, irresponsible home lending, and a bunch of other reasons that we've discussed and don't need to repeat at this moment. today, the shaking stopped but the fault is orders of magnitude

bigger. >> trillions of dollars in debt. >> there's no metric, no measurement of the health of the american economy that isn't worse today than it was before. and anybody with any fundamental understanding of what our lives and living standards depend upon will recognize that we are in much worse shape at 16 trillion in debt and climbing. right now the government borrows, as everybody knows, 40 cents on every dollar but paying no interest. if we stop artificially keeping interest rates down -- >> or if they want a better return. >> they have said they want a better return. that's when the fed comes out and creates money and pretends it's the -- it's artificial repression.

the result is the dollar is plummeting. they have a fancy name for it quantitative easement. bernie madoff went to jail for t you can't borrow money. >> it's true. >> the results of all this is that the dollar is plummeting. my employees, let's get to what matters me. >> yes. >> my employees are being paid an 80 and 75 cent dollars and going south. even if i bring in money from macao and keep up raises, i can't keep up with the destruction of the living standard of the working people in my world. >> so, tell me, what do we do? you were a big supporter of president obama, gave money to the democrats. you switched. do you believe mitt romney can create 12 million jobs? >> mitt romney doesn't create 12 million jobs. >> yes. >> we know from the study of history that the only thing that creates a better life is the demand for labor it has created in the private sector. if the government is going to hire everybody it is called communism. put everybody in the army,

postal department, agricultural department. preposterous and ridiculous. the government makes a lousy deem on labor contracts. >> you told me privately, there's money sitting on the side, guys like you. >> 2 or 3 trillion. >> why is it on the side? what is going to get back in the game? >> what president obama can do, what we've got in the white house today is a first rate campaigner and a great speechmaker and he is charming. >> ouch. >> a nice man. he is a nice man. but this world, it's what you do not what you say. we have become so fascinated with style and glitz, sometimes, and a hell of a thing coming from a guy like me, but give to the got to stay, is what you do, not what you say. >> true. >> we have got guy running for office, mitt romney who is not as good a campaigner as the president but would be a first rate president. the president is a first rate campaigner. >> regarding health care, >> i

know you are worried about your employees, why do you think the health care program is so poor? >> any bill that is 2700 pages a citizen looking at this television program, i'm going to make an intemperate statement. if a piece of legislation is 2700 pages, the public is getting screwed. nothing that's 2700 pages -- >> no one can read it. >> nobody has read it. it the's an outrageous example of government. >> the prices are increasing for employees? >> tony, when they take a break at cnn, most likely, you will see an argument between progressive, all state and geico about how to get cheaper auto insurance or an argument between vonnage, at&t and verizon on cheaper cell phone service. >> yes. >> you will never see an ad how to get cheaper health care insurance because that's locked into little monopolies state by state. one of the things we got do is get health care national -- the borders taken away so we can

have ads on television for private insurance that will cause the price to go down just like it does with auto insurance, like it does for your cell phone. . >> you did this with your own company, did you not? >> absolutely. >> tell me an example. you cut $1,000 from mri down to what? >> i got with my union, the culinary union with bessie, with mitzi, with mitzi, the head of the wife of the culinary union. my guys and she went and took the cost from mris and cat scans down from thousands to 300 or 250 by ganging up and using market forces. >> yes. >> now, ryan's idea that was anybody less than 55 would have -- 55 and over get medicare as it is. if you're other than that if you're younger than 55, you can have medicare just the way it is, but you also have a choice. you have a choice of private insurance advertised nationally. and depending on your income, if

you make less than 250,000 -- the president likes to think anybody making 250 or more is a millionaire or billionaire. i'll say one thing, as a person who makes more than 250, i would be happy to not have the government support my health care. i can afford my own insurance and so can anybody else who makes a lot of money health care is for people who have no money, medicaid. we have always had it. for people who make more than nothing but less than enough to buy their insurance competitively, they ought to keep medicare just the way it is. i think that's exactly what the republicans are suggesting. >> we're going to come back, bring you back with our dream team here, economic dream team. but our next person is t. boone pickens, the billionaire who started a new career between 70 and 84 and turning the world upside down with his energy plan. t. boone pickens is next. 0ñ@ñfñ

t. boone pickens turned a

$2,500 investment into one of america's largest independently owned oil companies, called mesa petroleum. then, at the age of 68, he supposedly retired only to begin again at 70 a whole new career in capital management. the man's amazing. if you don't know about him, you should. he has been around forever, sharing with people how to succeed. first of all, boone, i want to thank you for coming. >> you bet. >> you are a guy that doesn't know anything about retirement, a guy that adds value constantly, talking about taxes here, you paid how much in taxes the last 14 years since you were 70? you are 84 now, right? how much? >> 665 million. >> given away $1 billion in philanthropy. >> a little over 1 billion. >> most people at 65 think this is the end of the road. in their 50s are thinking i'm getting old. what do you say to those people -- how do we have those myths? you are the greatest person could i put out there to dispel people. >> i still have a lot of things to do i'm running out of time. >> you also take care of

yourself. i know at one point cut your company costs in half, health care costs. how did you do that and why are you so focused on health? >> put in a fitness center in 1969 and we won the company that was most physically fit in america. it was a contest at the houstonian in houston. won it two times. >> did you have incentives for people to do it? or was it just a sense of pride? you cut your health care costs in half at that time. you were a model for it. very few people followed it. >> any time i had 25 new employees, i would have a one-hour orientation. when i finished, i would say, we have a fitness center here and i like to have a show of hands of those that he will participate in the fitness program. well, here i am, the boss and i've got them cornered, they all have to raise their hand. i said fine, you don't have to check in the fitness center, i

have the list, all will participate, sign my name, give to fitness and he will be by to see you in the next two days. >> nothing like leverage. >> you have a plan that will save this county, provide 650,000 jobs, no one argues with that, provides savings of $100 billion, reduce the needs of opec oil by 75%. sounds like a plan too good to be true. what's the plan? >> i started this four years ago. i spent a lot of money promoting the plan. i feel like i have been successful. we've had one vote in the senate. >> got 51 votes, didn't you? >> that's right. >> why didn't it get passed? >> well, this was an amendment to the transportation bill. >> yes. >> and so it had to be voted on by the senate as to whether 18-wheelers on natural gas was germane to the transportation bill.

you're following this? >> no, i'm not. but you had to get 60 votes ff >> they voted it nongermane. i got 51 that will win the big 12, but not in washington when it's not germane to the bit. >> nine votes short this time. i know you don't ever give up. let's be clear. what you are saying we have 15% imported oil that comes, utilizing for big trucks. we can do solar, proven that for cars but these 18-wheelers, can't do it, need a transition fuel. >> you can't use solar for cars. >> that's what i'm pointing out. so, really, we have more natural gas now than saudi arabia? >> oh, we have -- >> as oil? >> we have more natural gas than any country in the world. and so if you take it to what we call barrels of oil equivalent, we actually is three times as much oil, not oil, but barrels of oil equivalent natural gas than the saudis have. i mean, here we are with it. this oil, we've got to do -- for

40 years we have imported oil and we have been connected to the mideast. we can do solar, we've proven that for cars. but the 18-wheelers, we can't. >> you can't use solar for cars. >> we have more natural gas now than saudi arabia, as oil? >> we have more natural gas than any country in the world. only 2.4 million barrels of that is coming to us. we don't need that. we can go without it. now, if that's the case -- we've got to look at our whole situation different. our energy has -- we have more energy, cheapest energy in the world. and we have more energy than anybody else has in the world. >> but we're not deploying it right. in other words, you're saying if we took those 18-wheelers and in five years we can convert those to natural gas, it saves money but also saves the oil. we can reduce by 75% our opec intake? >> the 2.4 million barrels we get from the straits of hormuz, we have the fifth fleet over

there, two directly in the persian gulf, two outside but close. all of that's going on, at the same time we're getting people killed every day. now we have this situation in libya and egypt, i would get out of the mideast is what i'd do. >> we can do it in five years? >> we can get out of the mideast a lot quicker than that. >> why isn't president obama stepping in and saying, we're going to take all of the vehicles the u.s. government has and put them on natural gas? >> that's just 200,000. >> lead by example? >> exactly. that's leadership, if he did that. he doesn't have to go on natural gas. put it on domestic fuel. that's what you need to do. get off of opec oil. but oil that we purchase from the mideast, from saudi arabia, particular, some part of that money goes to the taliban. okay, just get out of there and come home. they don't want us there. you're trying to change a culture that has been there for

centuries. and you want to change it to a democracy, if they came over here and imposed their culture on us, we would -- of course we would not even consider it. and that's their attitude, too. >> most people are not good at changing their spouse, how can they change a culture? >> exactly. >> we're going to bring everybody back together in our final segment. when we come back, i'd like to know what you think is our greatest strength as a country. what can we look forward to? how can we move things forward? i'd like to do that when we come back. >> sure. hahahaha! hooohooo, hahaha! this is awesome! folks who save hundreds of dollars switching to geico sure are happy. i'd say happier than a slinky on an escalator. get happy. get geico. melons!!! oh yeah!! well that was uncalled for.

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piers morgan. back with my three most incredibly successful men in america, mark cuban, steve wynn and t. boone pickens. this is a short segment. if you could do one thing, you're president of the united states, you could do one thing to make a difference in this economy and our culture and our ability to grow america again, what would it be? boone?

>> depend on your own resources. we have the cheapest oil, the cheapest gas in the chorld. get on your own resources. the countries that are successful around the world are those that are -- there's no country in the world that's on their own resources that's struggling. and we have the resources. washington does not understand. >> i'd say, recognize that intellectual capital is our best resource, that we have -- >> scaleability? >> because we have the most brains of any country in the world and that we're innovating -- we're innovating more rapidly than any other country. we have to continue to invest in them. but their challenge is all those people who aren't selling their intellectual capital. they're using their hands, using their time, in order to make a living. we have to retrain them. >> we've gone from this low knowledge, low skill, low cognitive decision making culture to a place where it's high tech, high knowledge -- >> software is taking over everything. >> if you don't get that, dow yoent win?

>> if you're not capable of participating in the workforce at that point, you need to be retrained and we need to get kids in school to the point where they can participate in that environment. >> we're training kids today for job that is used to be instead of the future? >> exactly. >> if you were president, what would you do, steve? >> listen to these two guys. the one thing you asked me if i could do to make the world -- america a better place, somehow have a notion of humility take over in washington with regard to what the government is capable of doing successfully. >> as opposed to private enterprise? >> he has an energy policy that would be successful. trust him to execute it. he says we've got to retrain people. reward -- have a government that rewards by not collecting taxes, people who successfully retrain citizens. that is to say, turn the attention to rewarding citizens

who do what we want by not collecting taxes from them and those people will start to retrain people and people will start to find new sources of energy. but that would require a change in attitude in washington that i would call introducing humility. >> give me one sentence, what is america's greatest strength going forward? >> our people. >> let me add one thing. if we get on our own resources, we can get out of the mideast. and we've depended on that oil over there for 40 years. and we don't need it. get the hell out of there and we will quit getting our people killed. >> steve? what's america's greatest strength? what do we have to look forward to? >> to have a better life. >> the most patriotic thing you can do as an america is get filthy, stinking rich and pay lots in taxes so we can do all these things we can talk about. >> this conversation is going to